Cooling-tower.



C. W. E CLARKE. COOLING TOWER. APPLICATION HLED AUG.12, 1915.

Patented May 2, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

WITNESS '7 7 I I I/l l I c. w. E. CLARKE. COOLING TOWER.

Patented May 2,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- WITNESS HIS/1770i? 8 FFIQED COOLING-TOWER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 12, 1915. Serial No. 45,105,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES \V. E. CLARKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brookline, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Cooling-Towers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to cooling towers employed in systems for condensing steam to lower the temperature of the circulating water to make it repeatedly available for condensing purposes,and more particularly to that type of cooling towers in which distributing devices are employed for spreading the heated water over relatively large areas and permitting it to descend by gravity over suitable surfaces while currents of air are caused to travel through the tower in the opposite direction.

I am aware that heretofore cooling towers have been constructed to operate under both natural and forced drafts and while, as commonly constructed, the fans or blowers ordinarily employed are placed below the water distributing devices, I am also aware that in some instances the fans or blowers have been placed above the water distributing devices. In no instance, however, so far as cooling towers have been brought to my attention, have the fans or blowers, in a tower adapted both for natural and forced drafts, been so placed as not to interfere with the free passage or circulation of the air when the tower is used as a natural draft tower.

The object of my invention therefore is the provision of a water cooling tower for the purposes specified, so constructed as to be used both under natural and forced drafts of air, and in which the fans or blowers are so placed above the water distributing devices as not to interfere with the free flow or circulation of the air when the tower is in use under a natural draft, as will be hereinafter more particularly described.

In the drawing, Figure l is a sectional elevation illustrating the parts of a cooling tower comprising my present invention, and Fig. 2 is an elevation and partial cross section taken at right angles to the position of the tower as shown in Fig. 1.

The cooling tower made in accordance with this invention comprises a'body, shell or casing 10 preferably made of suitably braced and connected sheet iron plates, although, as will be understood, other material may be employed, depending upon the circumstances of use and the place in which the tower is to be located. The tower also includes a stack 11, made of material similar to that of which the body, shell or casing 10 is constructed, and which, as will be understood, may extend above the tower sufficiently far to create the necessary draft when the tower is operated under a natural draft.

The body shell 10 is placed upon a suitable foundation, and contains the devices for distributing the circulating water. As indicated, these comprise troughs 12, to which the circulating water is delivered, and from and by which it is distributed to series of staggered plates 13. These water distributing devices, however, are merely illustrative, and as will be understood any suitable means for this purpose may be employed.

As ordinarily constructed, cooling towers are provided with fans or blowers for forcing the draft of air upwardly through the body of the tower, and ordinarily these fans or blowers are placed at the bottom of the body or shell of the structure. This necessitates elevating the water distributing devices to a distance which is greater by at least the diameter of the fans or blowers than would otherwise be necessary, thus increasing, by this distance, the head under which the circulating pump or pumps must operate. The primary object, therefore, of locating the fans or blowers above the water distributing devices is to materially reduce the head on the circulating pump or pumps, and this is accomplished by placing the fans or blowers above instead of below the water distributing devices employed.

The parts of the tower which relate more particularly to my present invention include the placing of the fans above the water distributing devices in such a manner that they do not interfere with the free passage of the air in the tower, as used under natural draft, and also doors or other similar means which may be opened when the tower is used under natural draft and closed when the tower is used under a forced draft, the air currents then being drawn through the body portion of the tower and deflected around the closed doors and delivered to the stack, and these parts of the tower will hereinafter be further described in detail.

Referring to the drawing, it will be seen Patented lliay 2, 1916. i

that on opposite sides of the tower I provide extensions 14:, which comprise housings for the fans and a passage for the air currents when drawn through the tower by the fans and forced into the stack. In this section of the tower, I also employ one or more doors, indicated at 15. Each door is mounted on a pivot or shaft 16 suitably journaled and fitted with a worm gear 17. In each instance, this worm gear meshes with a worm 18 on a shaft 19 suitably journaled in the frame of the tower and preferably extending to the exterior of one of the housings 14, where it carries a pulley 20 over which a chain 21 is passed for turning the pulley to revolve the shaft and so through the worms and worm gears to turn the doors 15 either to the closed position, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1, or to the open position, shown in dotted lines therein. The chain 21, by which and through the other mechanism herein described, the doors are operated, is accessible from a platform 0r gallery 22, reached by a ladder or series of steps 28 extending between the same and the lower platform or gallery 24 secured to the exterior of the portion of the tower at the water distributing section thereof, access being had to the gallery or platform 24 by means of a ladder or series of steps 25 extending therefrom to the ground or foundation upon which the tower is built.

26 indicates the fans, and as will be seen, these are located between the water distributing devices and the doors, a pair of fans preferably being employed in each section of the tower, one on either side thereof. The fans of each pair are mounted on a shaft 27 journaled in suitable bearings 28, and the shaft 27 is fitted with a pulley 29 by which, through a belt 30, the shaft 27 and the fans 26 are driven by a motor 31, or other suitable source of power.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that when the temperature of the atmosphere is sufficiently low to permit the use of the tower under a natural draft, the doors 15 may be turned to the dotted line position as shown in Fig. 1, and the fans stopped when the tower is operated under a natural draft, due to the height of the same and the stack 11, and in this operation, as will be apparent, the fans 26 are so placed as not in any manner to interfere with the free flow or passage of the air through the tower and stack. When, however, the atmospheric temperature or other Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Washington, D. 0.

causes make it necessary to operate the tower under a forced draft, the doors 15 are turned to the full line position shown in Fig. 1, and the motors operated to drive the fans 26. By the operation of these fans, air currents will be drawn through the body portion of the tower and forced by the fans through their respective housings around the adjacent edges of the doors and into and through the stack.

I claim as my invention.

1. A water cooling tower comprising a casing, water distributing devices therein, means directly above the water distributing devices and movable to different positions in the use of the tower under natural and forced drafts to open and close the space comprising the well of the tower, and .devices adjacent the aforesaid means for forcing a draft through the tower, and so placed in the sides thereof. as not to interfere with the free passage of air through the well of the tower when the same is used under natural drafts.

2. A water .cooling tower comprising a casing, a stack rising above the same, water distributing devices within the said casing, a door pivotally mounted above the water distributing devices and adapted to substantially close the well of the tower when used under a forced draft and to open the same wide when used under a natural draft, and a fan mounted in the side of the tower adjacent said door for creating a forced draft which is deflected around the sides of said door to the stack when employed to force a draft through the tower.

3. A water cooling tower comprising a casing, a stack rising above the same, water distributing devices within the said casing, a door pivotally mounted above the said water distributing devices and between the same and the said stack, means for swinging the said door to an open position when the tower is to operate under a natural draft and to a closed position when the tower is to operate under a forced draft, fans mounted above the said water distributing devices and adjacent said door and so placed as not to interfere with the free passage of air when the tower is in use under natural draft, and means for driving the said fans, there being provided a passageway around the edges of said doors through which the drafts of air as drawn through the casing by said fans are forced by the fans into the stack.

Signed by me this 29th day of July, 1915.

CHARLES W. E. CLARKE.

Commissioner of Patents, 

